Den spanske barokmaler og hofmaler
for Kong Filip 4. (1605-1665).
Diego Rodríguez
de Silva y Velázquez
(1599-1660) blev som 11-årig elev
af den spanske manierist Francisco
Pacheco (1564-1654). Efter læretiden
begyndte Velàzquez at fremstille
naturalistiske billeder med fokus
på portrætter, stilleben og
religiøse motiver. I 1623 rejste
han til Madrid. I 1629 portrætterede
han den unge Kong Filip 4. - en
bestillingsopgave, der vakte så
stor kongelig begejstring, at han
blev udnævnt til hofmaler. Under
et studieophold i Italien stiftede
han bekendtskab med de store
venetianske mestre som
Tizian
(renæssance)
og Tintoretto
(manierisme). Han var en stor
beundrer af den Venetianske Skoles
(1450-1600) farveoverdådighed og
kraftfulde realisme, som han efter
hjemkomsten til Madrid anvendte i
sine billeder. Velàzquez
inkluderede sig selv i flere af
sine især senere værker, og
fremhævede hermed sin samhørighed
med sin kunst og antydede
samtidig, at han så sig selv som
en væsentlig figur og ikke en
ydmyg maler. I sine kongelige
portrætter afveg han fra de
traditionelle stive formelle portrætfremstillinger,
han valgte fx at portrættere
hofnarre og dværge i sin
interesse for menneskefiguren. Velàzquez
var først og fremmest portrætmaler
og højdepunktet i genren var
mesterværket "Las Meninas"
(se
nedenfor).
The Spanish Baroque painter and court
painter of King Philip 4. (1605-1665).Diego
Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez
(1599-1660) became at the age of eleven
apprenticed to the Spanish Mannerist
painter
Francisco Pacheco (1564-1643).
After end of the apprenticeship he began
to paint in a naturalistic style focusing
on portraits, still-lives and religious
motifs. In 1623 he moved to Madrid. In
1629 he portrayed the young King Philip IV
- a commission which evoked such a
great royal enthusiasm that he was
appointed court painter, a post he
retained throughout his life. During a
study visit in Italy he became acquainted
with the Venetian masters such as
Titian
(Renaissance) and Tintoretto
(Mannerism). He adopted the Venetian
School's (1450-1600) sumptuousness of
colours and vigorous Realism. Velàzquez
included himself in several of his later
works to show his feeling of belonging to
his works of art, and hinted at the same
time that he himself was an important
figure and not a humble painter.
Interested as he was in studying the human
figure, his royal portraits differed from
the traditional formal presentations, he
portrayed among others court jesters and
dwarfs. Velàzquez was first of all a
portrait painter and the final culmination
of the genre was his masterpiece "Las
Meninas" (see
below).

med at vække den
slumrende hund, der
er en variant af en Mastiff. Bag den nejende
hofdame ses anstandsdamen Marcela de
Ulloa, der er placeret ved siden af en
uidentificerbar person, formentlig en
livvagt. I døråbningen står
dronningens hofchef José Nieto. Om
Nieto kommer eller går kan ikke
bestemmes, begge dele kan være tilfældet,
når man betragter benenes position på
trappetrinnene. Han holder med højre hånd
et gardin til side, bag hvilket der ses et
kraftigt lys, en dybde, en evighed, et
perspektivisk forsvindingspunkt. Nieto kan
kun ses af kongeparret, der ser sceneriet
fra beskuerens synsvinkel.Til venstre i
billedet ses Velázquezselv
i færd med at arbejde på et kæmpelærred.
Han bærer Santiago (Skt. Jakobs) Ordenen,
som han først modtog i 1659, tre år
efter billedet var afsluttet. Kong Filip
4. beordrede ordenen tilføjet efter Velázquez's
død. En anekdotisk beretning vil vide, at
kongen selv malede ordenen på kunstnerens
dragt. I bæltet hænger nøgler
symboliserende hans titel af kammerherre.
I sin venstre hånd holder han en palet og
pensler. På paletten ses de farver, der
indgår i billedet, orange, hvid og sort.
I sin højre hånd holder han den pensel,
som er i brug. Det store lærred, der støttes
af et staffeli skaber intimitet med sin
skråtstillede placering i venstre yderste
billedhalvdel. Rummet lukker sig om sig
selv, fem personer, maleren, prinsessen,
Nieto, den nejende hofdame og dværgen ser
ud i det rum, de befinder sig i,
formentlig på kongeparret, der står
foran dem og bliver portrætteret af Velázquez.Billedet
kan betragtes som værende et portræt i
portrættet forstået på den måde, at
det arrangerede sceneri med gruppen
omkring prinsessen (der kan have kedet sig
bravt og opmuntres af at overvære portrætteringen)
er det ene portræt, og det andet portræt
er det, der er under tilblivelse. Velázquez
skildrer således det, der foregår foran
kongeparret, der udenfor billedrummet står
modeller for ham til et dobbeltportræt.
Den amerikanske kunsthistoriker Horst
Waldemar Janson (1913-1982) mener, at
spejlbilledet af kongen og dronning er fra
det lærred Velázquez arbejder på, og
som er skjult for beskueren. Andre
iagttagelser går på, at lærredet er i
et for stort format i forhold til Velázquez'
øvrige portrætter, og derfor ikke er det
kongelige dobbeltportræt, men et andet
maleri, der er under udførelse. "Las
Meninas" indeholder det eneste kendte
dobbeltportræt af kongeparret udført af
Velázquez.
"The Family of Philip IV, or Las
Meninas" (The Ladies-in-waiting),
1656, by Diego Velázquez, The
Prado Museum. The painting's colour
scheme, the contrast between light and
dark, clair-obscur, and the realistic
details are inspired by the Italian
Baroque painter Caravaggio.
The scene is a high ceilinged room in the
Alcázar (citadel) of Madrid, presumably
Velázquez's studio. The room is
unfurnished. The walls are decorated with
paintings, of which the two on the rear
wall are identified as Velázquez's
reproduction of Peter
Paul Rubens' paintings "Minerva
Punishing Arachne" to the left, and
"Apollo's Victory over Marsyas"
to the right. At first glance the painting
can be seen as a genre painting in Baroque
style, as a scene of everyday life at the
Spanish Court. However the work is more
complex than is generally believed, and it
consists of a higher degree of delicacy,
balance and refined brush strokes than the
contemporary Dutch genre paintings. The
figures in Velázquez' painting act
unnaturally in the setting and are
unnaturally lighted. The essential
differences between the Baroque painting
and the genre painting are the new
intensity and an increased psychological
characterization of persons. On the one
hand the painting is a snapshot; on the
other, a scene setting planned in careful
detail. The group portrait shows the royal
family and its staff. At the same time the
most important portrayals are that of the
Infanta, Velázquez' self-portrait and the
portrait of the dwarf wearing a dark blue
court dress. The other figures are
staffage and fellow players rather than
portraits. The scene is observed by King
Philip IV (1605-1665) and Queen
Mariana of Austria (1634-1696)
depicted in the mirror. In all eleven
figures and a dog form part of the
painting, some of them look at the viewer,
others act in their own universe.
The central figure in the painting is the
five year old Infanta Margarita Teresa
(1651-1673), daughter of Philip IV. Her
left cheek is restored, because it was
injured when the castle burned down in
1734. At the age of fifteen she married
Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor, and
died at the age of twenty-one weakened by
childbirths and miscarriages. Margarita
Teresa's long blond hair is decorated with
a light orange bow, which is similar to
the decoration of her dress. The light
orange colour is repeated in the sleeve
bows. The Infanta is served by her
ladies-in-waiting, to the left María
Agustina de Sarmientohanding
her a golden salver with an orange red jug.
María Agustina looks at the Infanta, who
pays no attention to her, but seems to be
in a world of her own. To the left is the
maid-in-waiting Isabel de Velasco,
who absent-mindedly curtsies to the
Infanta. Among the figures in the
foreground are two court jesters, they are
dwarfs, the German María Bárbola,
and the Italian Nicolasito Pertusato,
who tries to wake the sleeping dog with
his left foot. The dog is a kind of
Mastiff. Behind the curtseying maid is
Margarita's chaperone, and next to her an
uindentified man, presumably a bodyguard.
In the doorway stands the private
secretary to the Queen José Nieto.
It is not possible to say if Nieto is
leaving or coming, both can be the case
looking at the position of his legs on the
steps. With his left hand he is pulling a
curtain aside. Behind the curtain is a
sharp light, a depth, an eternity, a
vanishing point. Only the King and Queen
can see him, they are looking at the
setting from the spectator's point of view.
to the left Velázquez has
portrayed himself working on a large
canvas. The emblem of the Order of
Santiago (St. James) decorates his dress.
He was awarded the honor in 1659, three
years after completing the painting. An
anecdote says that the king himself added
the emblem after Velázquez's death. From
his belt hang keys symbolizing his title
of Lord-in-Waiting. He holds his palette
and paint-brushes in his left hand. The
colours on the palette, orange, white and
black, are the colours used in the
painting. In his left hand he holds the
brush which he is using. The huge canvas
supported by an easel creates intimacy
with its oblique placement. Five persons,
the painter, the Infanta, Nieto, the
curtseying waiting-maid and the dwarf are
looking at the royal couple in front of
them. The painting is a portrait in a
portrait. The arranged scenery, the group
around the Infanta is one portrait, the
other is under construction. Velázquezportrays what is going on in front of
the King and Queen, who stand outside the
painting posing for the artist. The theory
of the American art historian Horst
Waldemar Janson (1913-1982) is that the
reflection of the royal couple comes from
the canvas Velázquezis working on.
Other observations of the painting are e.g.
that the canvas size is too big compared
to other portraits by Velázquez,
therefore it is not the royal double
portrait which is under construction.
"Las Meninas" contains the only
known double portrait of the King and
Queen executed by Velázquez.

"Christ on the
Cross", c 1632,
by Diego
Velázquez, Prado
Museum.In
comparison with his
production of portraits he
painted few religious
pictures. This painting of
Christ on the cross shows
the influence of the
Venetian School, which he
has brought to perfection
in his way. The painting
has been described as the
most perfect
representation of Christ.
A sublime/heavenly light
falls on the body of
Christ. He is represented
with physical strength, a
human perfection (which
Neoplatonists believed
in), as the one who is
stronger than death. No
painful suffering exists
in the painting,only
stillness and loneliness
in the darkest night of of
Christ.

"The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid: the
executions on Príncipe Pío hill", 1814,
by Francisco Goya.
Prado Museum. Napoleon I of France invaded
Spain in 1808. The Spanish people wertr
discontented with the new king, Napoleon's brother
Joseph Bonaparte, so everywhere in Spain
rebellions broke out. In May the people of Madrid
rose up against the French occupation. Many French
soldiers were killed by the Spanish rebels, and
the French army's reaction to this was to execute
thousands of Spanish civilians and rebels. Many
Spaniards, including Goya, had hoped that the
French invasion would bring liberal reforms to the
country and not terror. In disappointment at this
Goya painted "The 3rd of May 1808"
focusing on political tyranny. The motif shows the
execution of Spanish rebels. He has portrayed his
countrymen as martyrs.